Speech Japans invasion in China

Question: You are a colonel in the Japanese army in July 1914.Justify Japan's military presence in China and Indo-China in response to American sanctions. Answer: We often hear that Japans invasion in China is just the desire to increase its imperial power. But, we have major economic and militaristic elements to invade China. Our country required more resources and space, as we lacked proper resources and space on our homeland. . For growing up as an economic and military power, it was important to show everyone that Japan has abilities to achieve what it wants. For the reason of industrial growth our invasion in Taiwan, Korea and in Manchuria was important. Japan had an opportunity to prove its leadership capabilities to the world. Japan needed land, oil and imperialism, for which invasion of China was very important. People from our country were highly discriminated and it was proved by the Immigration Act of 1924. United States excluded us from the immigration act. The immigration system was based on the quota system but exclusion of the Asians was a great discrimination. This was the most insulting treatment for us. This also declared the position of Asians in American society as we were prejudiced and discriminated. We had to prove to the world that we are not weak. Under the Kellogg-Briand Pact,1928, United Nation had banned the sale of oil, iron and steel to Japan. This act renounced war as major instrument policy. Lynton Committee 1931 gave importance to the proposals and complaints of our country towards China and also blamed Japan for disturbing the territorial integrity of China. Our delegation had to walk out from the league. Japan was left in the control of Manchuria, which was an insult for us. Japan was a considered as a nation, with no power and possibilities. It was important to show our imperialistic power to the world. Our officers were the hard line military officers, who had the ideology of increasing the power and resources. We had to prove our strength and we could conquer other countries. China was the country, which was considered as the powerful nation of East Asia, and conquering China was enough to prove to our strength. In the first two decades of the 20th century, there was immense tension between Japan and United Nations. U.S. had very negative treatment with the Japanese immigrants, as Japanese were considered to be inferior. The racial inequality was very grave. United Nation and Japan had many commercial and economic competitions, as there were many opportunities in China. With the Treaty of Versailles, the problems between the two nations settled down a little. Japan did not want to heighten the tension as we had many economical interests in China. Washington Naval Talks 1921-22, was another turn for Japan. We did not want war and agreed to reduce the naval power in China. Through this conference we acquired naval bases in the Pacific, which was the sign of our increasing power. This was done in order to have easy trade, though the agreement of small navy was not very well taken in our country, but the agreement was for the peace and betterment of our country. Neutrality Act 1935 banned the sale of arms and ammunitions from United States and the cash and carry for us was beneficial. This act increased the power of Japan. However, with Lend Lease 1941, the power was given in the hands of United States and we were forced to surrender, which further diminished our power. Hence, Japan was highly discriminated on the different levels. This situation forced us to have war and prove our power. Bibliography Coble, P.M., 1991.Facing Japan: Chinese Politics and Japanese Imperialism, 1931-1937(Vol. 135). Harvard Univ Council on East Asian. Sun, Y., 1996.China and the Origins of the Pacific War, 1931-41. Macmillan.